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Creating business rules for your website

Prerequisite

Only members of the Administrators user group and those defined in the Manage Members for Role: Add Role Member Business Rule Editor screen can work with Business Rules. See also: Defining roles

Business Rules let you define conditions for Web pages on your site. You choose an action based on whether the conditions are true or false when a site visitor browses your site. For example:

With Business Rules, you do not write code to set conditions and initiate actions. You simply complete the Business Rules wizard, have your developer add a Business Rules server control to your Web form, and assign a Business Ruleset to the server control. See also: Creating personalized Web experiences with personas and the BusinessRules server controlA server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified..

The following list shows several conditions and actions that are already defined for you.

Conditions

Actions

After you create a rule, you can add it to multiple rulesets. This is useful if several rulesets use a common rule.

Creating a business ruleset

  1. Go to Workarea > Settings > Business Rules. The Business Rulesets screen appears..
  2. Click Add New Ruleset. The Add New Ruleset screen appears.
  3. In the Name text box, add a unique, descriptive name for the ruleset.
  4. Click Save Ruleset. The View Ruleset screen appears.

You can now add a rule (as described in Adding a rule to a ruleset ) or click Back () and return to add a rule later.

After creating a ruleset, you typically add rules to it via the View Ruleset screen. This screen is the launch pad for working with existing rulesets or creating new rulesets.

Editing a business ruleset

You can edit a ruleset from 2 locations: the Web page or the Workarea. To edit a ruleset from the Web page, go to a Business Rule on a Web page while logged in. Then, right click the Business Rule icon and click Edit.

To edit from the Workarea:

  1. Go to Workarea > Settings > Business Rules. The Business Rulesets screen appears.
  2. Click the ruleset name.
  3. Click Action > Edit Ruleset. The Edit Ruleset screen appears.
  4. From this screen, you can make a rule inactive, remove a rule from the ruleset (Removing a rule from a ruleset), or change the order in which rules are applied (Changing the order of rules in the ruleset).

Deleting a business ruleset

When you delete a Business Ruleset, the ruleset is removed from the system permanently. However, the rules in a Ruleset are not deleted because they may be used in other Rulesets.

  1. Go to Workarea > Settings > Business Rules. The Business Rulesets screen appears.
  2. Click the ruleset name.
  3. Click Action > Delete Ruleset. A dialog asks you to confirm the deletion.
  4. Click OK.

Adding a rule to a ruleset

  1. Go to Settings > Business Rules. The Business Rulesets screen appears.
  2. Click the Business Ruleset for which you want to create a new rule.
  3. Click New > Add New. The Rules Wizard launches and helps you define a rule.

  4. Wizard Step 1 prompts you to create conditions for the rule and decide whether a site visitor needs to match Any or All conditions. Click the param and value links to open a dialog to enter information.

  5. Place a check next to any condition you want to use. Use the following list to help you complete the param and value fields.
    • Cookie param equals value. Use a cookie for this condition.
      • param. enter Name in this field.
      • value. enter the name of the cookie in this field.

      Does the site visitor's system have an Ektron cookie?

      Usage: Cookie param “Name” equals value “Ektron”

    • Custom param equals value. Use custom parameters from the user. User parameters are defined in the code-behind of a Web page.
      • param. enter the name of a custom parameter. For example, AcctBlnc
      • value. the value associated with the parameter. For example, 1000

      Is the user's account balance $1000?

      Usage: Custom param “AcctBlnc” equals value “1000”

    • Form param equals value. Use a form elements field name and match the value entered into the element.
      • param. enter a form’s element Field Name from a form.
      • value. enter the value you want the form element to match.

      A form has a Choices Field element with the Field Name “Favorite_Food” and choices of Pizza, Steak and Chicken. When a site visitor chooses Pizza and clicks submit, your rule launches a Pizza company’s website.

      Usage: Form param “Favorite_Food” equals value “Pizza”

    • QueryString param equals value. Use the QueryString for this condition
      • param. the name of the QueryString. For example, ID.
      • value. the value associated with the parameter. For example, 18.

      Is content with the ID of 18 being displayed?

      Usage: QueryString param “ID” equals value “18”

    • Server Variable param equals value. Use server variables from the site visitor.
      • param. enter the name of a server variable. For example, HTTPS.
      • value. the value associated with the parameter. For example, On.

      Is the site visitor’s browser using SSL?

      Usage: Server Variable param “HTTPS” equals value “On”

  6. Click Next. Wizard Step 2 prompts you select an action to take if conditions are true. Check the boxes for the actions to take. Click the blue links to add the appropriate information.

    • Display Calendar ID. Enter an Ektron Calendar ID.
    • Display a Message. Enter a message to be displayed.
    • Open URL. Enter a URL. This opens a new window with the URL.
    • Popup A Message. Enter a message that appears in a popup dialog box.
    • Redirect to a URL. Enter a URL to redirect a the site visitor’s browser.
    • Set Cookie to Value. Creates a cookie on the site visitor’s system. Enter Name for Cookie and the name of the cookie for Value.
    • Display Content Block ID. Enter an Ektron content block’s ID.
  7. Click Next. Wizard Step 3 lets you select actions to take when conditions are false. This works the same as Wizard Step 2.
  8. Click Next. Step 4 of the Wizard asks you to enter a name for the rule in the text box.
  9. Click Done. The View Ruleset screen appears. Your rule appears in the Ruleset box.

Editing a rule in a ruleset

  1. Go to Workarea > Settings > Business Rules. The Business Rulesets screen appears.
  2. Click on the Ruleset that contains the rule to be changed. The View Ruleset screen appears.
  3. Click on the name of the rule to be changed. The rule is highlighted.
  4. Choose Action > Edit Rule. The Rules Wizard appears with the rule loaded.
  5. Edit as necessary. The Rules Wizard is explained in Adding a rule to a ruleset .

Changing the order of rules in the ruleset

The order of rules in a Ruleset affects their application when a site visitor views a page. For example, you want to display a welcome message before a content item. To accomplish this, move the rule for the welcome message above the rule for a content item.

  1. Go to Workarea > Settings > Business Rules. The Business Rulesets screen appears.
  2. Click on the Ruleset that contains the rules you want to re-order.
  3. Choose Action > Edit Ruleset. The Edit Ruleset screen appears.
  4. Highlight the rule you want to reorder.
  5. Click the up and down arrow buttons to move the rule within the list.
  6. Click Save Ruleset.

Adding existing rules to another ruleset

You can add a rule to multiple Rulesets. To do so:

  1. Go to Workarea > Settings > Business Rules. The Business Rulesets screen appears.
  2. Click on the Ruleset to which you want to add existing rules.
  3. Choose New > Add Existing. The Add an Existing Ruleset screen appears displaying the rules from other Rulesets.
  4. Check one or more rules and click Save Ruleset. The rules are added to the current Ruleset.

Removing a rule from a ruleset

  1. Go to Workarea > Settings > Business Rules. The Business Rulesets screen appears.
  2. Click on the Ruleset that contains the rule you want to remove.
  3. Choose Action > Edit Ruleset. The Edit Ruleset screen appears.
  4. Click on the rule you want to remove, highlighting the rule.
  5. Click Remove Rule (). A window indicates that the rule will be removed from this ruleset only.
  6. Click OK. The rule is removed from the Edit Ruleset screen.
  7. Click Save Ruleset.

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